Landmark judgement quashing two earlier Magistrate orders:
IGP, AG told to prosecute all who had kept the elephants illegally:
The Court of Appeal issued a landmark judgement prohibiting the registration of elephants and releasing the elephants taken into custody of the Wildlife Conservation Department to their owners yesterday.
It was issued relating to four Writ Petitions filed by parties including the Center for Environmental Justice.
Through its judgement, the Court has issued an order quashing the Regulations 5(1), 5(2), 6(1), 6(2), 6(3), 7(1), 7(2) and 7(3) of the Fauna and Flora (Protection, Well-being and Regularization of Registration of Tamed Elephants) Regulations No. 01 of 2021 published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2241/41 on August 19, 2021. In addition, a Writ of Certiorari
was issued quashing the decisions of the Chief Magistrate’s Court of Colombo and the Magistrate’s Court of Matale dated September 6, 2021 to release 39 elephants taken into the custody of the Wildlife Conservation Department to their previous owners.
Also another order was issued directing the Wildlife Conservation Director General, Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Inspector General and the Attorney General to take necessary steps to prosecute all individuals who had illegally kept the elephants referred to in these two Magistrate’s Court cases.
Lahiru Fernando
